UN sanction
UN sanctions are of the UN , especially the UN Security Council imposed sanctions , so penalties against states or political elites or other special groups that repeatedly violate human rights or UN resolutions have disregarded (usually to avoid conflicts). In general terms, the term sanctions includes all restrictions on traffic and communication channels, interruptions in economic relations or the breaking off of diplomatic and cultural relations. The sanctions of the United Nations are binding, since the Security Council can decide on more extensive coercive measures if the requests are not complied with.
The international law basis for the imposition of sanctions is Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations :
- The Security Council can decide which measures - excluding armed violence - are to be taken in order to make its decisions effective; he may call upon the members of the United Nations to carry out these measures. They can include the complete or partial interruption of economic relations, rail, sea and air traffic, post, telegraph and radio connections as well as other means of transport and the breaking off of diplomatic relations.
As part of Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the article can only apply if the Security Council determines in advance, in accordance with Article 39 , that there is a threat or breach of the peace as a result of an act of aggression or the continuation of a dispute or situation . Sanctions can only be imposed by the Security Council, not by the UN General Assembly . The Security Council has great decision-making authority: it alone can decide who (state, groups, individuals or institutions) it wants to sanction, which types of raw materials, goods or services should be affected by the sanctions and how long the sanctions should last. In addition, the Council is permitted to forbid UN members from any contact with the addressee of the sanctions. However, compliance with all sanctions is the responsibility of each individual member state.
A frequently used sanction by the United Nations is a so-called embargo , for example in the form of an economic or trade embargo . In the process, all economic or trade relations between other UN countries and the country concerned are broken off. Such embargoes can, however, lead to famines and other bottlenecks in the affected country, which do not affect those in power but the people who are not responsible for politics.
Under sanctions with such side effects, e.g. B. to suffer the people of Iraq for years until Saddam Hussein was overthrown . Well-known examples of UN sanctions imposed are requests to Haiti, (formerly) Yugoslavia and North Korea.